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Fallen Flags, The Classic American RailroadFallen Flags, a name all too common now describing American railroads (just a bittersweet fact of the free market at work), is term meaning those railroads whose corporate name has been dissolved either through merger, bankruptcy, or liquidation. At one time in the United States there were nearly 140 Class I railroads (or those with at least $1 million annual operating revenue at that time) and today these are commonly known as the fallen flags or “classic” railroads. The older folks reading this can remember almost all of these in person, from the legendary Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway with its famous Warbonnet paint scheme to the mighty Pennsylvania Railroad and this country’s first common carrier, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
Today nearly all of those classic railroads, now fallen flags, are gone except for just a few (the Union Pacific is perhaps the most notable along with the Kansas City Southern and the Canadian roads Canadian Pacific and Canadian National), although their legends and names will always live on. Here you will find information on some of the best remembered of these classic fallen flags describing each in more detail and broken down into the territory where they operated (i.e., east, west, north, south). Buffalo Creek & Gauley Railroad Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railway Canadian National Railway (This railroad is still operating, it is placed here because of its long and storied history.) Canadian Pacific Railway (This railroad is still operating, it is placed here because of its long and storied history.) Central Railroad of New Jersey (Jersey Central) Delaware, Lackawanna & Western (The Lackawanna) Long Island Rail Road (This railroad is still operating but is placed here because of its historical significance.) Maryland & Pennsylvania Railroad New York, New Haven & Hartford New York, Ontario & Western Railway
Florida East Coast (FEC) (This railroad is still operating, it is placed here because of its long and storied history.) Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac
Akron, Canton & Youngstown Railroad Chicago, Aurora & Elgin Railroad Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (The Burlington Route) Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific (Rock Island) Chicago, South Shore & South Bend Railroad (This railroad is still operating but is placed here because of its historical significance.) Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific Railway Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Iowa, Chicago & Eastern Railroad Kansas City Southern (This railroad is still operating, it is placed here because of its long and storied history.) Lake Superior & Ishpeming (This railroad is still operating but placed here because of its historical significance.) New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (The Nickel Plate Road) St. Louis Southwestern (The Cotton Belt) Toledo, Peoria & Western (This railroad is still operating but is placed here because of its historical significance.)
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (The Santa Fe) Denver & Rio Grande Western (The Rio Grande) Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (MKT or Katy) Saint Louis-San Francisco Railway (The Frisco) Union Pacific (This railroad is still operating, it is placed here because of its long and storied history.) Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific (The Milwaukee Road) The Milwaukee Road's Pacific Coast Extension Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Spokane, Portland & Seattle (SP&S) Railway Express Agency (The REA was not an operating railroad but was an integral part of the railroad industry during the "golden age" when all of the classic systems were in operation.) For more information on fallen flags not mentioned above please click here. Lastly, for a guide to the historical societies keeping alive the memory of most of the fallen flags covered above, plus many others, please click here.
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